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Last Outpost of the British Empire

What You Need To Know

Join park staff, volunteers and Florida Living History beginning at 9:30 a.m. for a step back in time to British St. Augustine at Fort Matanzas. The spring of 1783 finds the American Revolution almost at an end. Feeling abandoned and betrayed by the politicians in London, the Loyalist troops in East Florida are near mutiny. Visitors will be invited to enter into this turbulent time in Florida's history, where the tiny garrison at Fort Matanzas waits and wonders about their fate. How would it have felt to be at this remote corner of the British Empire while, thousands of miles away, the fate of your nation is being decided? The men of Matanzas' garrison go about their daily routine - cooking, drill, washing, mending - unaware of the larger questions of statecraft, loyalty and independence. Demonstrations of British artillery drill and cannon firings will occur at regular intervals throughout the day. At 2 p.m., Dr. Sam Turner of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum will present a lecture titled Late British East Florida Naval Matters and the Storm Wreck. Boat tours leave the dock at half past the hour from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission is free.